Miyabi 5000 Birchwood Knives

Hi Guys,

I was lucky enough to have a friend of mine who lives in Japan and bought me 4 of the Miyabi Birchwood range. He also got me two sharpening stones specifically designed for the knives, a 1000 & 3000 grit whetstones. I can get the knives razor sharp with these stones BUT, Ive never taken these knives to a steel for honing. I normally need to sharpen them once every 3 - 4 months and they're used daily.

My friend was told by the person he bought the knives from to not use a honing rod with these knives but I know I can extend the time between sharpening by running them a few times over a knife every few times I use them.

My question is, what sort of honing rod (If any) can I use?

I have found this one @ Myer but dont know if this is going to be suitable... http://www.myer.com.au/shop/mystore...itchen-dining/zwilling-938937350-938937800--1

Any reccomendations?

Kind Regards

Chris :thumbsup:

I'm going to say that you shouldn't use a honing steel at all. Here's a video explaining why

[video=youtube;FStkYx0AH1Y]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FStkYx0AH1Y[/video]

I would only use a honing rod (the ceramic type you link to) in a situation where I desperately needed to touch up a severely degraded edge and had nowhere to pull out a stone or strop (for example, a busy professional kitchen). In all other situations I would use a loaded leather or balsa strop, or a stone. Using a ceramic honing rod on a high HRC knife requires an extremely delicate technique to avoid damaging the edge.

As far as extending the time between sharpenings, well, it just doesn't work that way. The ceramic honing rod is a lower grit than the 3000 grit stone you have for finishing, and using the rod will actually make the edge worse, not better.

Miyabi makes a birchwood honing rod.



This can be found at Cutlery & More, Amazon, Sur La Table etc. They also have a Miyabi rod without the birchwood handle.

There's a much cheaper option called the Idahone ceramic rod which has a good reputation.

That said I have seen these knives suffer but it's been from careless honing and always from nicking the tip resulting in it to chip off. Not the end of the world as the tips have been repaired, but not fun nonetheless. Simply put people show off too much with honing rods. It's not about how fast you can go. You shouldn't use much pressure either. More importantly your rod needs to be harder than the steel your knife is made of (in this case 63HRC). Take your time and keep the pressure light with minimal passes (2-3 per side). Jon's video brings up excellent points regarding the edge becoming weaker over time. This is why taking it to a stone is important to bring out a fresh edge. However I've never seen micro chipping occur from honing.

I'd suggest against honing your nice knife...if you need to touch up, get a strop of some sort or just strop on your finishing stone...harder steels don't roll the edge which is what you are fixing (re-aligning the edge) when honing softer (stainless or other Euro, etc) knives.

It's an easy money bet that more knives are damaged than improved with a rod.

I just took some chips out of a friend's DP. He said and I quote: "You know how you told me not to use a steel - now I see why"

daveb said:

It's an easy money bet that more knives are damaged than improved with a rod.

I just took some chips out of a friend's DP. He said and I quote: "You know how you told me not to use a steel - now I see why"

Click to expand...

I used to hone my knives before using them each time because that was the conventional wisdom, but I stopped some time ago and sure enough my knives lasted longer. My reasoning was always that you have to be perfectly consistent with your honing or else you are just going to move the edge. Being a complete amateur I was positive there was no way I was being precise enough to fold the geometry back perfectly straight. I'm sure some people can do it, but even being really careful I had my doubts that I was.

My thought at the time, was if my edge was being folded over then I probably had the wrong cutting board. Switching to a software cutting board and stopping honing my knife definitely had a noticeable improvement in the edge. I'm 100% positive I was doing my harm to my blade by honing it.

I came to these conclusions as guesses with my own practices, so it is good to see an expert in the video above say that honing is not ideal for other different reasons.

Steels are OK with softer steels, but even with these you need good technique. Japanese do not use at all and their knives on average are sharper than Western dudes wailing away on a steel. I would take that bet that more knives have been damaged than improved. The worst is guys trying to sharpen with diamond steels instead of learning freehand a recipe for failure.

Thanks everyone!!!

I must say I have not had any chips ever on these knives and Ive had them for over a year. I would be pretty upset if I chipped them so I might just continue what Im doing.

On another note. I have a few Miyabi Combination stones (not the ones I use for these knives) Link Below, that I use to sharpen all my other knives (The wife's stuff). They are in dyer need of a level, can i use courser grit to level these? As in I have a 300 / 1000 & a 5000 / 8000. Can I rub the 3000 against the 8000 to true up the flat? I've looked for leveling stones but cant find much available. Any tips where to go and look? The 8000 grit is not looking good @ all and the one that I need to level as I love the polished edge look!!!

heres the link to the type of stones:

http://www.myshopping.com.au/ZM--1277616900_Miyabi_Twin_Sharpening_Stone_Pro_32505_100

Thanks again everyone for all your advice!!!!

Check out the Atoma 400 diamond plate for flattening. It can be found lots of places but Tools From Japan is the cheapest. Amazon, Lee Valley and most of the knife shops carry them.

There's also the Atoma 400 with a handle from Knives and Stones.

I like to use a nagura stone after flattening just to smooth things out more.

Yes +1 for the Atoma